SOLOISTS
Orphée – Dominic Bevan
Eurydice – Aurélia Jonvaux
Pluton – Jean-Pascal Heynemand
Jupiter – Nicholas Merryweather
Juno – Sylvie Gallant
Vénus – Nadège Meden
Mars – Antoine Salmon
Diane – Marion Reudet
Public opinion – Latana Phoung
DIRECTION
Musical director – Nicolas Bercet
Artistic director – Bernadette Grimmett
The operetta Orpheus in the Underworld is the first one in which Offenbach used Greek mythology as a background. The operetta is an irreverent parody and scathing satire on Gluck and his Orfeo ed Euridice and the theatrical cult in the court of Louis XIV. It culminates in the risqué Galop infernal (“Infernal Galop”) that shocked some in the audience at the premiere. Other targets of satire, as would become typical in Offenbach’s burlesques, are the stilted performances of classical drama at the Comédie-Française and the scandals in society and politics of the Second French Empire.
